The OECD economies achieved annual growth of 2.3 per cent in the third quarter, according to preliminary estimates released by the Paris-based body yesterday.

The third-quarter GDP expansion compares to annual growth of 1.4 per cent in the second three months of the year and represents a significant upturn for the 30-member organisation.

Average growth across the OECD has now returned to levels seen at the start of 2001, the estimates suggest. Before the second quarter of this year, the organisation's members had suffered three quarters on the brink of economic stagnation. In the third quarter last year, annual growth in the OECD economies was just 0.2 per cent.

The OECD said the US had contributed 1.2 percentage points to the estimated 2.3 per cent OECD-wide annual growth in the third quarter. The euro zone and Japan both contributed 0.2 per cent. Among the OECD's seven largest economies, the most impressive annual growth in the third quarter came in the US and Canada, where GDP expanded by 3.2 per cent and 4 per cent respectively.

The US economy has now managed progressively to raise its growth rate for the past four quarters. In the third quarter of 2001, US GDP shrank by 0.4 per cent.

The OECD estimates put annual euro-zone growth at 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, up slightly from 0.6 per cent in the preceding three months, but still down on the 1.3 per cent expansion recorded in the same period of 2001.

The Japanese economy meanwhile saw its first period of positive growth for more than a year, with the OECD estimating that GDP rose by 1.3 per cent on an annual basis.

Quarterly growth in the euro-zone in the three months between July and September was stable at 0.3 per cent, well below the equivalent US GDP expansion of 1 per cent.

The US was the only large OECD economy to achieve single-digit quarterly growth, with the remainder expanding by 0.2-0.8 per cent. In the previous quarter, the US had grown by just 0.3 per cent. The French economy was the most sluggish of the G7 group of states. Germany remains close to the bottom of the table, recording quarterly growth of 0.3 per cent.

The EU's largest economy has been achieving close to negative quarterly growth for the past two years. The OECD estimates that Germany achieved a slightly better annual performance, pulling itself out of the negative year-on-year growth noted in the first two quarters of this year with a 0.4 per cent expansion in output.